usualu‧su‧al /ˈjuːʒuəl, ˈjuːʒəl/ ●●● S2 W2 adjective 
Make a cheese sauce in the usual way. I’ll meet you at the usual time.longer/higher/worse etc than usual It is taking longer than usual for orders to reach our customers. She ate twice as much as usual.it is usual (for somebody) to do something It’s usual to keep records of all expenses.2as usual in the way that happens or exists most of the time: As usual, they’d left the children at home with Susan. They didn’t invite any women, as usual.3as per usual spoken used to say that something bad that often happens has just happened again: He just laughed at me, as per usual.4the usual spoken a)used for talking about something that usually happens, is usually done etc: ‘What was he going on about this time?’ ‘Oh, the usual.’ b)the drink that you usually have, especially in a particular bar: A pint of the usual please, Paul.5not your usual self behaving differently from the way you usually behave, especially by seeming worried or upset about something: Keith doesn’t seem his usual self these days.
WORD ORIGINusual
Origin:
1300-1400 Late Latin usualis, from Latin usus; ➔ USE1EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- All the usual people were there.
- Is it usual for him to be so late?
- It seemed colder than usual in the house.
- She was sitting in her usual chair by the fire.
- The usual adult dose is 600 mg daily.
- We've sold more than the usual amount of coal this year.
- As usual he brought with him a collection of friends and a lot of commotion.
- Bigwig, with his usual brisk energy, set to work.
- But of course the usual analogy is an arms race.
- It is usual for an interviewer to show the candidate to the door with a few final words.
- Marsha sits at her office desk, casually dressed, as usual.
- The tubes in the automatic fraction collector were meticulously labeled, with none of the usual felt-tip scribbles.
Longman Language Activatorusual
use this about something that usually happens or something that someone usually does or uses: · She was sitting in her usual chair by the fire.· All the usual people were there.colder/better/slower etc than usual: · It seemed colder than usual in the house.· We've sold more than the usual amount of coal this year.it is usual for somebody to do something: · Is it usual for him to be so late?
someone's normal behaviour or habit is what they usually do in a particular situation: · She went to bed at her normal time of eleven o'clock.· It used to be normal practice to live at home with your parents until you got married.normal for: · Don't worry if Mike seemed rude - that's normal for him.be normal for somebody to do something: · It's normal for young children to misbehave sometimes.
to be the thing that most people do or think: · Going to church on Sunday used to be the norm in most households.· In the building industry, short-term employment contracts are the norm.· Smoking is no longer the norm but the exception.
usually done on a particular occasion or at a particular time of year: · We were presented with the customary bottle of champagne.it is customary to do something: · It's customary to kiss the bride at a wedding.as is customary: · As is customary, you will be paid a fixed fee for the job.
something that is routine is done as part of the normal process of working, doing a job etc: · A major electrical fault was found during a routine safety inspection.· The hospital carried out some routine tests.· Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? It's just routine.
informal use this about something that you have seen or heard many times before: · They always come up with the same old excuses for why they can't deliver on time.· They still sing the same old songs, but the audiences love it!the same old story (=use this when it is annoying that the same thing always happens): · It's always the same old story. They're two or three goals up, and then they relax and end up losing.
stock phrases, questions, answers, excuses etc are the ones that people usually use - use this about phrases, questions etc that have been used so often that they are no longer effective: · Her speech contained all the stock phrases about increasing productivity and reducing costs.· The same questions seem to be asked every time, and he gives his stock answers.
in the same way as things usually happen in the same way as things usually happen: · Sam was in a bad mood as usual.· There will be discounts available for students as usual.· As usual, there was far too much food.
British /like always American informal spoken use this to say that something is not surprising because it is what almost always happens: · Jim was the first to arrive, as always.· As ever, her work has been excellent this term.· When he arrived he stank of whiskey and tobacco, like always.
British spoken say this when you are annoyed because something bad that usually happens has just happened again: · I'm in trouble at work, as per usual.· She was three hours late as per usual.· He said he'd phone, but he won't. As per usual!
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY It is taking longer than usual for orders to reach our customers. She ate twice as much as usual.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES Roberta was late as usual (=in the way that she usually was). After the usual preliminaries, the chairman made his announcement.
It is taking longer than usual for orders to reach our customers. She ate twice as much as usual. Roberta was late as usual (=in the way that she usually was).· He made the usual excuses for not coming.· Whenever the trains are late, it's always the same old excuse.
· The usual method of investing in a company is by buying shares in it.
· As soon as she could, she resumed the normal pattern of her life.
After the usual preliminaries, the chairman made his announcement.· Although he'd gone, I continued with my normal routine.
· When she came home at Christmas she seemed very quiet and not her normal self.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· The dignitaries, as usual, waited for him to go first.· The children, as usual, stayed behind.· The right, as usual these days, is in a quandary.· How could they proceed with business as usual?· At one school, children watched television and played video games as usual.· Tommy, as usual, is whispering to Nico hotly when I come through the reception room.· John, hurrying as usual, almost walked right into it.· Szott, as usual, will labor in anonymity.
· Today, it is more usual to replace the base with marine ply.· Only later did the skin of the shark turn back to its more usual blue-and-white shading.· Warehouses with more than 20 stacker-cranes are not unknown although it is more usual to find systems with 2 to 6 cranes.· The trade here is of a more usual nature with the pubs open to 11 at night.· Such numbers are now much more usual in the western harbours.· His hurried journey allows us to estimate a more usual journey as taking about six to eight weeks.· It is more usual to wash or dip the cheeses in liquid.· Infanticide is a defence to murder, but it is more usual to charge infanticide in the first place.
· The most usual type of unsprung mattress is the foam one.· The most usual area of difficulty is in relation to leasehold properties.· The most usual method of sending out information to more than a few broadcasting stations or publications is by post.· Until recently surgical resection was the most usual treatment.· The most usual form is canon at the unison, or octave.· The most usual flavouring additions are spices, peppercorns and nuts, especially pistachios.
NOUN· These were fed into the system in the usual manner to create the required data base.· This can be done quickly in the following manner: Test the corneal reflexes and facial sensation in the usual manner.· The first two landed in the usual manner.· Each field may then be edited in the usual manner.
· This may seem a paradox and different from the usual pattern of learning, therefore it needs to become a habit.· The usual pattern was calm, then a storm.· You should also establish the patient's usual pattern of fluid intake and output by tactful questioning.· The usual pattern is to start with a larger definition of the neighborhood, and narrow in as the training proceeds.· The latter is the usual pattern and I only know it to be his as the items came from the family.· We took up our positions, driving stakes into the ground in the usual pattern.· It is important that the nurse establishes what is the usual pattern for the patient.· As masculinist networks, armies develop the usual patterns of consensual transgressive behaviour.
· A 3.0 litre, 24 valve power plant in the usual place, under the bonnet.· Sandie, in her usual place on the long couch, looks pale, but determined.· It stopped at the usual place, and a soldier in a red and gold uniform jumped down.· The smoke was steady in the usual place.· Two months ago he went there and saw the usual places and people.· She set the latter down at the King's hand, then without a word took her usual place across from me.· It wasn't a usual place.
· It has become usual practice for record companies to advance bands some money to underwrite the costs of these first tours.· This is because the usual practice would be for the investment manager to deal only in its own name account client.· It would be usual practice to ensure that the payment is costed to the month in which the work is carried out.· They were advised to use topical steroids only on severely affected areas of skin, in accordance with our usual practice.· In common with usual practice, most printing establishments acted as agents for the large firms in the country who specialised in wedding stationery.· It is usual practice for the management of the trust to set the bid price above the limit set by the formula.· The usual practice is for casks to be rolled into deep, cool cellars.· Instead Smith Kline chose just twenty-five key distributors, with whom it maintained far closer contact than was usual practice.
· The usual run of mugging, housebreaking and shoplifting.· Anything of quality was exciting in those days, for the usual run of food was of a dullness today hardly comprehensible.· It has been designed to be different from the usual run of the mill international tax conference.
· She woke and dressed, spraying on perfume in a manner quite unlike her usual self.· Being ecstatic means being flung out of your usual self.· Not his usual self at all, one way or another.· Old Chao seemed to be pulling his usual self back on with his sock.· Miguel was his usual self and his efficiency left him in fifth place.
· Then come the usual suspects, categories that we can rattle through quickly before announcing the big ones.· I happened to find myself with the Commander on the gallery one afternoon: the other usual suspects were missing.· In other words, the usual suspects.· But there is a lot in it for the usual suspects.· The usual suspects are labor unions, which have been around for a century.· Not even the Seattle earthquake could deflect these usual suspects from their mission to keep the Clinton era alive for our delectation.
· He awoke at his usual time Wednesday morning, November 27, and remained awake until 12 o'clock Saturday night.· The next morning, Quinn was in front of the hotel at his usual time.· She let Ann and Lena go at their usual time and stayed on alone.· Eva had already been promoted to major before the usual time.· He had got up at the usual time and played with his sisters.· Chapter Twelve 2 January George had left for work at his usual time of eight fifteen.· I cycled over from Creeting at the usual time and when I started it were all right.· We finished at ten minutes to six, about our usual time.
· There is then a dynamic situation, with the near-shore sediments building out laterally in the usual way.· This is the usual way of friendships in the information age.· As the music begins, concentrate for a few moments on relaxing your body in the usual way.· The solution is then completed in the usual way.· Staff in these Departments considering additional computers are at liberty to submit suggestions through line management in the usual way. 3.· I then cut out the neckline and sew in the usual way.· Is this your usual way of greeting your escorts?· The usual way in which his power is circumscribed is by limiting it to a right to break for certain specified purposes.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► not your usual selfPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1happening, done, or existing most of the time or in most situations: - And probably the truth is, as usual, double.
- He'd be for the high jump, as usual.
- It was what the shearmen in the woollen manufacture, who did not work at home, regarded as usual.
- It will soon be back to business as usual.
- Maisha and Tiger meet us outside baggage claim, and Maisha is looking terrific as usual.
- Otherwise, it was life as usual, and I was being a dutiful daughter and a good sister.
- The big beasts of medical ethics have been locking horns, the rationalists against the religious as usual.
- The children, as usual, stayed behind.
- Alicia was late, as per usual.
- He said he'd phone, but he won't. As per usual!
- I'm in trouble at work, as per usual.
- She was three hours late as per usual.
- Same old jolly camp-fire life went on as per usual.
- I'll have the usual, Frank.
- Despite the fire damage, it's business as usual at the barber shop.
- Back in Los Angeles it was business as usual.
- How could they proceed with business as usual?
- It will soon be back to business as usual.
- So it was business as usual.
- The next day was business as usual.
- This change has involved more than just mixing up kids and carrying on business as usual.
- This is more than dictatorial business as usual.
- We need to be clear that, if Bush defeats Al Gore, there will no longer be business as usual.
- Besides which, you've missed the point as per usual: to speak is to admit existence.
- Same old jolly camp-fire life went on as per usual.
- Anything of quality was exciting in those days, for the usual run of food was of a dullness today hardly comprehensible.
- Credit taken by the general run of consumers - those not in an extremity of financial need - was not specially regulated.
- In the normal run of things I would have had no business there, no access.
- It has been designed to be different from the usual run of the mill international tax conference.
- It ought to be said that this particular extract poses more difficulties than the normal run of parish registers.
- This, however, was not the normal run of things.
- What should we do when confronted with claims which are conspicuously at odds with the general run of experience?
- But there is a lot in it for the usual suspects.
- In other words, the usual suspects.
- The usual suspects are labor unions, which have been around for a century.
- Then come the usual suspects, categories that we can rattle through quickly before announcing the big ones.
Make a cheese sauce in the usual way. I’ll meet you at the usual time.longer/higher/worse etc than usual It is taking longer than usual for orders to reach our customers. She ate twice as much as usual.it is usual (for somebody) to do something It’s usual to keep records of all expenses.2as usual in the way that happens or exists most of the time: As usual, they’d left the children at home with Susan. They didn’t invite any women, as usual.3as per usual spoken used to say that something bad that often happens has just happened again: He just laughed at me, as per usual.4the usual spoken a)used for talking about something that usually happens, is usually done etc: ‘What was he going on about this time?’ ‘Oh, the usual.’ b)the drink that you usually have, especially in a particular bar: A pint of the usual please, Paul.5not your usual self behaving differently from the way you usually behave, especially by seeming worried or upset about something: Keith doesn’t seem his usual self these days.